This invention relates generally to apparatus for the treatment of the back and more particularly to a device for treatment of the back through passive spinal extension.
Persons suffering from low back pain frequently lose flexibility in the lower back in the direction of spinal extension. It has been found that flexibility may be increased through passive bending of the lower back in extension. In passive bending, the person does not use any of his own muscles to produce the bending, but rather remains relaxed while his body is acted upon externally.
This treatment may be particularly effective when the cause of the low back pain is damage to the circumferential fibers which retain a central mass of gel ("nuclear mass") in the disc between adjacent vertebrae. Such damage may result in a shifting of the mass of gel toward the posterior and posterior-lateral and a tilting of the upper vertebrae toward the anterior and anterior-lateral. A victim of this type of injury cannot stand fully erect and may be unable to lie down because of the dislocation of the nuclear mass. Correction and subsequent control of the disorder may require manipulation of the spine to restore the nuclear mass toward its normal central location, or surgery to remove the displaced mass. Passive spinal extension enhances corrective processes by compressing the disc at the posterior, squeezing against the nuclear mass and encouraging its movement toward its normal position near the center between adjacent vertebrae. Passive spinal extension both facilitates restoration of the nuclear mass position and measures the success of other corrective steps through observation of increases in the patient's flexibility in the direction of spinal extension.
Thus there is presently a need for a device to treat the lower back through passive spinal extension.